The @NRA's claimed financial status has finally met its moral status: bankrupt.
While we review its bankruptcy filing, we will not allow the @NRA to use this or any other tactic to evade accountability and my office’s oversight.
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) January 15, 2021
Per the AP:
The National Rifle Association announced Friday it has filed for bankruptcy protection and will seek to incorporate the nation’s most politically influential gun-rights group in Texas instead of New York.
The announcement made on the NRA’s website comes months after New York’s attorney general sued the organization over claims that top executives illegally diverted tens of millions of dollars for lavish personal trips, no-show contracts for associates and other questionable expenditures.
The coronavirus pandemic has also upended the NRA, which last year laid off dozens of employees, canceled its national convention and scuttled fundraising. The NRA’s bankruptcy filing listed between $100 million and $500 million in assets and between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities. Still, the NRA claimed in announcing the move that the organization was “in its strongest financial condition in years.”
The NRA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court in Dallas and said it planned to incorporate in Texas, where records show it formed a limited liability corporation, Sea Girt LLC, in November 2020. Sea Girt LLC made a separate bankruptcy filing Friday, listing fewer than $100,000 in liabilities.
“The move will enable long-term, sustainable growth and ensure the NRA’s continued success as the nation’s leading advocate for constitutional freedom – free from the toxic political environment of New York,” the NRA said in a statement…
MAH FREEDUMBS!!1!! He’s not even bothering to pretend it’s about gunsports any more…
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott quickly welcomed the news, tweeting: “Welcome to Texas — a state that safeguards the 2nd Amendment.” The NRA said it has more than 400,000 members in Texas and plans to hold its annual convention in Houston later this year.
I believe most of the day-to-day corporate leadership still works out of the DC suburbs (spiritual home of all lobbyist organizations), so it’s mostly kabuki at this point anyways. Due sympathy to all decent Texans, still.
Speaking of weasel words, here’s a masterpiece of the genre:
The National Rifle Association has filed Chapter 11 proceedings and plans to relocate to Texas. The letter, from NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, says the organization is “as financially strong as we have been in years.” https://t.co/wb0FXdefcR
— 23ABC News (@23ABCNews) January 15, 2021
We’ve been crippling the organization with our relentless greed for years, and hope to continue for years yet to come!
Mike in NC
How much money did the stinking NRA spend on Ted Cruz in his last election?
debbie
When NPR reported this, they included a clip of Leticia James questioning the veracity of the NRA’s claim of bankruptcy.
WaterGirl
I read on the other thread that the NY AG has to approve the move of the organization to TX. Fat chance!
Boy, I hope that’s true. please please please
RepubAnon
Given that the NRA probably can’t dissolve to escape the New York Attorney General’s office investigating their misdeeds, things could get interesting
If the bankruptcy court lets the NRA escape, it’ll be a path for all corrupt charities.
Villago Delenda Est
Evaders of responsibility always. What scumbuckets these people are.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Saying you’re in the strongest financial position in years, just might raise questions with the bankruptcy judge.
Baud
Scout211
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/01/statement.html
Speaking of legal issues, Dominion’s lawyers are getting things done:
p.a.
Cherry on top would be some financial evidence subsidizing the attempted putsch.
Baud
@Scout211: .
American Thinker should have done some more thinking.
CaseyL
An NRA convention in Texas, among unmasked and uninhibited gun nuts – even one “later this year” when, presumably everyone will be vaccinated? One can hope for any number of fatalities, from any number of causes.
Roger Moore
IOW, in a jurisdiction with a suitably corrupt Attorney General. If that’s the goal, it’s obvious why Texas is the go-to place.
WaterGirl
@Scout211:
WaterGirl
@Baud:
American Thinker should have done some
morethinking.dmsilev
I don’t think it was the pandemic that led to massive looting by the upper ranks and accompanying lawsuits. I mean, I suppose it’s possible that COVID-19 has a side effect of inducing a severe case of Conservative Griftosis, but I’m not aware of any documented evidence to that effect in the medical literature.
LurkerNoLonger
Go and run off to crazy land, NRA, but not before you have every last dime sucked up by the state of NY. Fucking evil fucks.
debbie
@Scout211:
I really like the way Dominion’s been pushing back against The Big Steal. It’s been Lincoln Project–level communications.
Geminid
I read that the NRA hit a turning point in the 1970s. Some leading members wanted to check the organization’s involvement in politics, and return it to the original mission of teaching marksmanship and firearms safety. They proposed moving the NRA headquarters to Colorado,away from DC. But Wayne LaPierre’s crowd won the power struggle, and the organization went downhill from there. There is a lot more money to be made in politics.
Baud
@debbie:
Yes, it’s my new favorite company.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Shorter: the election propaganda has developed not necessarily to American Thinker’s advantage
WaterGirl
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: hahahahaha
Poe Larity
@Scout211: They also shut down comments:
lamh36
oooooh…grab ya popcorn guys!
Baud
I can’t wait for Dominion’s lawsuit against Trump on the afternoon of the 20th.
JMG
I had all sorts of marksmanship badges from the NRA I earned in summer camp — in 1960 and 1961.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Bowling for
ColumbineBankruptcyAlison Rose
Fucking get ’em, woman.
Although…if the NRA ever did wither away to nothing, I shudder to think of the new organizations that would crop up in its wake. Imagine some of those knuckle-dragging fuckers from 1/6 starting a “new NRA.” Of course, if they’re in jail, I suppose that would be difficult.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I guess 12:01 pm is technically considered afternoon. :-)
I’m right there with you. Pretty sure they talked about that on Josh Barro / PopeHat podcast, too.
Just Some Fuckhead
It WAS Antifa!
Brachiator
@Scout211:
I love this. Trump supporters, of course, are deep into their own alternate universe.
They assert that Trump and his enablers have a First Amendment right to say whatever crazy shit they want to say. They are oblivious to the idea that there might ever be consequences to talking crazy shit.
WaterGirl
@Just Some Fuckhead: I would like to know why this fellow is being charged more heavily than most of the people who violated the Capitol on 1/6.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@WaterGirl: DOJ and law enforcement use a sophisticated algorithm to determine charges (photo)
Ivan X
I feel as though James’ statement have more power if she didn’t speak like a politician and call them morally bankrupt. Not that that isn’t plainly obvious to anyone but the most blinkered, but as an AG I sort of expect more neutral language in which the facts, or legal arguments, speak for themselves.
dmsilev
@Alison Rose: There are already some gun groups that were set up by people who thought the NRA weren’t avid enough in their pursuit of profits-for-gunmakers.
Geminid
@Just Some Fuckhead: Regarding the man featured in the article you link, today “Socialist Dog Mom” Molly Conger retweeted a couple long threads put up by West Coast antifascists. They had John Sullivan pegged months ago as a liar, provocateur, and grifter.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Ivan X: This is why we can’t have nice things. Do-gooders want to bring a well crafted dialectic to a gun fight.
Bill Arnold
@Just Some Fuckhead:
https://www.wonkette.com/whats-the-deal-with-this-activist-john-guy-we-will-try-to-explain
Which links to a deeper backgrounder.
Politico is being dangerously lazy here. Maybe this was covered in another thread?
debbie
@p.a.:
That Republican women’s group paid for hotel rooms; Ginnie Thomas paid for buses to transport the terrorists to D.C.; the Republican Attorney Generals Association also ponied up; etc. It all seems to be pretty out in the open.
MisterForkbeard
@lamh36: Where did the BREAKING come from? The article says they haven’t actually done this yet.
Uncle Cosmo
Nitwit Rioting Assholes.
WaterGirl
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I wonder if it’s the DOJ putting their hand on the scale to get the seemingly liberal person instead of all the MAGA people.
Just Some Fuckhead
Heay come the whitewash. Emphasis on white.
debbie
@Ivan X:
Did you never listen to Bill Barr?
MisterForkbeard
@Just Some Fuckhead: Interesting. They found one guy who looks like he just enjoys riots and has shown up at left events too.
Odd that they appear to be charging him more heavily than the rightwing thugs.
WaterGirl
@Ivan X: I had a similar thought with regard to “MY office’s oversight”. Should have been “oversight by the NY AG’s office” or something of that nature.
MisterForkbeard
@Just Some Fuckhead: “Yes, they had specific plans and where chanting “Hang Pence” and were discussing how to kill Nancy Pelosi. But the fact is, these were good men and women who just got swept up in the moment.”
debbie
@Just Some Fuckhead:
They sure as hell have more evidence than Rudy or Sidney.
NotMax
@Bill Arnold
Doc Sardonic
@WaterGirl: He’s black
lamh36
Just Some Fuckhead
I really like Congressman Brendan Boyle. I hate that he looks like a Comey clone. I bet he hates that too.
PPCLI
@lamh36: Sweet!! I’m not a lawyer, but I figured (and hoped) that there must be some way to create a Georgia state offense out of trying to coerce someone in Georgia to do something illegal, even if the person doing it was on a phone call from out of state.
Scout211
@Just Some Fuckhead:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-capitol-plot/no-direct-evidence-of-plot-to-kidnap-or-kill-lawmakers-in-u-s-capitol-attack-justice-department-official-idUSKBN29K2FL
Not completely backing down yet, just declaring no “direct evidence of kill capture teams.” That leaves quite a bit of wiggle room for individual plans and circumstantial evidence of both individual and teams.
HumboldtBlue
Pentagon won’t host traditional farewell for Trump.
Immanentize
@Scout211: Translation by a lawyer:
OK, we admit we are liable for damages for our repeated defamation, so let’s just argue about that. And by admitting we are liable, we really hope to avoid huge punative damages. But we understand we are already on the hook for your attorney’s fees.
RobNYNY
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It can be a cash flow problem, not a problem of obligations exceeding assets. You can have piles of illiquid 30-year bonds in the vault, but in the meantime you need to pay your debts as they come due.
Just Chuck
@Alison Rose:
That’ll be a hoot, a gun group comprised entirely of felons legally barred from owning firearms.
danielx
From the fevered brain of Gary Abernathy, WP op-ed columnist:
If Biden really wants to unify the country, here’s the olive branch he must extend to conservatives
Biden doesn’t have to extend anything to people who want to – at best – frustrate his every initiative, and at worst want to kill him.
Fuck a bunch of olive branches. To paraphrase Rick Wilson, they’re not being banned because of their conservative views, they’re banned because they are evil shitbags,
hueyplong
@danielx: How did it go when WSJ suggested that Trump offer a cluster of olive branches to the Democrats in Jan 2017? In all the excitement, I’ve completely forgotten.
Villago Delenda Est
@danielx: We tried that in 1865. Didn’t work.
Kelly
@danielx: I’m fine with extending branches. Nice stout branches extend with a full swing.
MisterForkbeard
@danielx: The “olive branch” he wants to just for Biden to say that BLM is just as bad as the Capitol Insurrectionists and just as egged on by the Democratic Party, who approved of the violence and so on. Oh, and because it went on longer it’s probably worse, but BOTH SIDES GUYS
He also takes the time to say that Goebbels “Big Lie” quote is just like marketing. Goebbels was just like people today selling good toothpaste y’all! (Yes, this is an analogy he actually uses)
Gag.
Geminid
@Bill Arnold: The New York Post did not bite on John Sullivan’s story. In the lead paragraph of their story today, they describe Sullivan as “a former Olympic speed skater- and alleged conman accused of sabotaging leftwing movements under the name ‘Activist John’.” The article goes on to say that Sullivan’s brother has his own right wing movement and has spoken at Proud Boys events. The Post quoted west coast antifa sources who accused “Activist John” of playing a double game. He definitely was seen egging on the rioters at the Capitol.
different-church-lady
DID THEY LOOK FOR THE MONEY IN LA PIERRE’S POCKETS??2?
Just Some Fuckhead
@different-church-lady: Most of the problem is that money can’t stay in Wayne’s pockets.
kindness
When I was a kid, the NRA wasn’t a crazy right wing gun industry promotion group. I mean sure there were probably right wingers in it then but it promoted marksmanship and gun safety and responsible use of guns. Then it went all to hell. I’m happy they’re bankrupt. I hope which ever judge oversees the case rules wisely in the case. Lawyers will get most the remaining assets I bet.
catclub
here’s to hoping they regret it some more.
catclub
Only a little worse than GWBush governing as a barely elected President in 2001
Another Scott
@JMG: ICYMI (from 2014) – TBogg – I was the NRA.
Cheers,
Scott.
burnspbesq
@Roger Moore:
If I’m reading Section 362(b)(4) of the bankruptcy code correctly, the filing doesn’t stop enforcement actions by state agencies, and I know for certain that section 362(b)(9) doesn’t shut down tax audits.
sab
@WaterGirl: It’s early yet in the capitol prosecution timeline. I personally don’t approve of fast prosecutions. Get the facts together before you upend peoples’ lives. But IANAL.
JML
as scary as some of the new gun nut groups that would appear if the NRA finally goes down, that kind of splintering would go a long way toward breaking the power of the gun lobby. Politicians still fear the power of the NRA beyond their ability to actually exert it; they remain a boogeyman and their imprimatur still has power among low information voters. If you splinter that amongst 3-5 groups all competing for primacy, none of them will have anywhere near the same level of influence. Breaking these corrupt scumbags has major value.